right now on "andrea mitchell reports" on defense. two vietnam vets square off against each other over the iraq surge. as chuck hagel is challenged by john mccain. >> would you please answer the question? will you correct or incorrect when you said that the surge would be the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since vietnam? were you correct or incorrect? yes or no. >> my reference to the surge being -- >> the question is were you right or wrong? that's a pretty straight forward question. >> well -- >> i would like to answer whether you are right or wrong, and then you are free to elaborate. >> well, i am not going to give you a yes or no answer on a lot of things. >> let the record show you refuse to answer that question. now, please go ahead. >> well, if you would like me to explain why i -- >> i absolutely would like answer answer.

yes or no. >> well, i'm not going to give you a yes or no. i think it's far more complicated than that. >> is this finally the year for immigration reform? president obama sits down with jose diaz bullart. >> i don't think that it should take many, many months. i think this is something that we should be able to get done certainly this year, and i would like to see if we can get it done sooner. >> in newtown parents of the young victims demand stricter gun laws. >> i remember looking at him in his casket and holing his hands. no parent should hold this memory of their child. >> the liberty of any person to own a military style assault weapon and a high capacity magazine and keep them in their home is second to the right of my son to his life. >> bidding farewell.

john kerry's emotional good-bye to the senate. >> standing here at this desk that once belonged -- at this desk that once belonged to president kennedy and to ted kennedy, i can't help but be reminded that even our nation's greatest leaders and all the rest of us are merely temporary workers. >> plus, my interview with former vice president al gore. >> from the real threat about climate change to the controversial sale of his fledgling cable network to al jazeera. >> isn't there something inherently hypocritical about taking money and a lot of money from an oil producer? >> the point you're making is one that i understand very

clearly. i do disagree with it. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. former senator chuck hagel is taking plenty of heat from his own party at today's confirmation hearing. especially from former colleague and fellow vietnam veteran john mccain. joining me now for our daily fix chris cali sfwl za managing editor of post politics.com, and nbc news chief pentagon krbt jim miklaccewski. snoo. >> you're watching the hearings closely. this thing not going that well for chuck hagel, at least with his critics, john mccain is a very important member of this committee. >> what is so striking, andrea, is that chuck hagel has had a series of meetings with more than 50 of the members of the senate. all the questions that would be put to him must have come up in those conversations, and yet, before this committee there were times where he looked ill-prepared for questions that would have been pretty easy to anticipate. at the same time you had democrats trying to in a couple

of instances almost rehabilitate his answers to clarify his point. now, to the good side, he had the opportunity to talk about how his own service in vietnam and that of his brothers has given him perspective that wab valuable if confirmed as the defense secretary, but the back and forth between mccain was striking. it went on and on and it was at a really core issue where mccain argued that the judgment of a secretary of defense on issues like the surge in iraq and later the surge that president obama authorized in afghanistan was a fundamental point of view that senators should evaluate and as you heard in that clip, senator hagel was reluctant to give a yes or no assessment of his own opposition to it, and wanted to give a fuller description of what his views were at the time. he also did say he disagreed with president obama on the increase in troops in afghanistan. again, key issues that would play out if he gets the job at the pentagon. >> chris, we've seen these things before. this one at least is getting off to a very uncertain start.

>> yes. >> we know the drama and all of the positions that have been taken pro and con and the lobbies that have been taken against him, and it's been pretty fierce, and i know he has been doing murder boards and he has been practicing at the pentagon. they've got really good people working with them. you might have expected that he would have, as kelly points out, anticipated this line of questioning from john mccain. >> well, and let me just add one other thing. he is a former senator. he is not unaware of how these things go. this is not someone who is sort of a newbie to processes like this. you know, look. i found the mcdane-hagel confrontation incredibly compelling for a number of reasons. not the least of which is the -- these were two men that were the best, lit rate the best of friends. chuck hagel was the chairman of john mccain's 2000 presidential campaign. they had their senate offices next to one another so that they could more closely coordinate.

the falling out -- everyone around both of them says they're no longer close friends. why is up for debate, but that confrontation between mccain and hagel fascinating. not only in terms of the clear disagreement about the fundamental direction that is we should take in regards to foreign policy in iraq, but also the personal element there. i think people always forget a lot of this stuff is personal, and it seemed in the tone of mccain's questions it was personal. >> it does seem that, and, of course, there was the fact that hagel did not endorse barack obama, but in the middle of that mccain-obama campaign he went to the war zones along side barack obama. it was an implicit endorsement. his wife did endorse obama in that campaign. politics are personal. jim, there's some concern by some that assuming that chuck hagel gets confirmed he will be a weaker secretary of defense within the cabinet, that policy will be run even more so out of the white house, out of the nsc because he has gone through this

process, and doesn't have a strong political base himself within the administration. >> well, you know, that was the rap against william cohen. if you remember, a republican who served under the president -- democratic administration of president clinton. now, if people here in the building say, look, you know, chuck hagel would be fine for us, including military uniformed service members because they understand, as you just pointed out, that the white house is going to be pulling the strings, turning the screws no matter who is the secretary of defenses. republican or democrat. i do want to set the record straight a little bit on this debate over the surge. now, senator hagel in the confirmation hearing said that 1,200 americans were killed during the 18-month surge operation. that's true. 1,200 americans died, but the actual number of combat deaths was 942.

what's important to point out is that the 12 months before the surge began the total number of service members killed in iraq was 820. now, this is the most important figure i think if you are going to argue was the surge a success or not? that is the fact that the 12-month period following the surge operation there were 313 american deaths and the next year only 150. so that's why you hear a very strong argument, particularly from uniformed military personnel and leadership that they believe the surge was successful. >> and kelly, one of the big crisis or conflicts that's going to be facing whoever is the next defense secretary if it is chuck hagel, is going to be the budget and the sequester, and i know that leon panetta is very deeply concerned about this as he exits. what is chuck hagel doing about that sf what is the posture of

the administration as you're viewing it from the hill with the dead looirns approach sng. >> interestingly, that has not been as much a part of the hearing today. he did get some questions about it. he tried to reassure the committee that he would be forceful in wanting to protect the sort of battle readiness of the military services, but he also did indicate how devastating it could be and that there would probably be civilian furloughs that would happen quickly if this were to go forward. as secretary panetta has said, it could have a hollowing out effect on the military. it appears that hagel is carrying that view, but something that is that far-reaching and that impending because it could be in just a matter of weeks before that would kick in. that has thus far not been a central focus of this hearing, which we expect to go at least a couple of more hours, so there's plenty of time pour them to get to that. that would be a major part of what he would have to do. of course, you've also had a lot of discussion today about the issue of israel and iran and some of his more controversial statements in the past about

that. that's been a definite part of the back and forth we've seen. >> briefly, let me ask you on that score because of israel's strike into syria. questions about what the targeting was. it's now been condemned. the secretary general, at least at the united nations, saying that he has grave concerns. i shouldn't use the word condemned, but grave concerns about that israeli air strikes, the first in five years. at this time the united nations does not have details, he says, about the reported incident. what are they saying over there at the pentagon? we've also been briefed today that the vice president when he goes to the munich security conference this weekend is going to meet with the syrian envoy from the united nations, brahimi and will meet with the russian foreign minister and with the syrian national council. >> so far out of this building, while they're keeping many of the details close to the vest, we're not hearing any kind of condemnation, criticism, any negative response. in fact, according to one senior military official who we can only identify that way because

they're not authorized to speak on the record of this subject, all they could say about it was, you know, the israelis, above anyone else, usually gets these things right. >> no condemnation at all. in fact, from a white house briefing that we just had, a background in advance of joe biden agency trip, they're not criticizing it at all there. they're very much on board. thank you, all of you, and joining me now from more on senator hagel's confirmation hearings and the military challenges that he faces -- will face anyone who is the next defense secretary steve. you were at the hearings. >> yes. >> you've been supportive of chuck hagel. you know him very well. you've been sort of part of this whole process. let's talk about how he handled those questions so far today, and it's going to be a long day for him in the hot seat. >> i think he expected a long day, and i think that as we were speaking earlier, i think john mccain came into run point on the surge. i think it matters so much to mccain.

he is so personally invested in that, and that was the rip with the party. that was the rip with mccain for senator hagel, and i think that's what they want to exact a pound of flesh for, and i think chuck hagel went in to do what he wanted to do, which was not to give a yes-no answer to that. he didn't want to embarrass or offend mccain. i don't think he succeeded in that. he did want to say that 1,200 soldiers died in that surge, and that thousands of people were wounded and that we need to consider things not in an emotional and reckless way, but need to look at the costs and the returns. he said history will judge whether that was a good move by the united states or a poor surge. as he explained that, i thought hagel taught the country about the surgery that it might not have known. >> marco rubio has come out with a statement. >> before the hearing is over. >> he said he is going to vote against him. you can see where some of the newer senators -- >> it's a great tweet by sam stein of "huffington post" that says in 2017 president marco rubio will wonder why the senate

isn't letting him have the people he picks for his cabinet. >> the ironies abound that people are taking sides even before the hearings take place, but there are other people within that hearing -- i mean, mccain has a particular role as a leader on defense policy, as a leader of this country ke, and as mccain goes, so will go other republicans. he will give political cover to some who may want to go up against president obama. >> oh, i think that's right. i think that's one quadrant, but, of course, you had john waern, who is also a republican, former chairman of that committee, who strongly defended hagel and his views, and sam nunn on the democratic side. there are a lot of former chairman around that may have other issues. people aren't looking at thad cochran. thad cochran came out as the first republican to issue p public support for hagel, and he was one vote away from beating trent lott for senate majority leader some years ago. you have leaders. this is -- as john mccain said, this is not a neat difference among friends. there are deep idealogical

differences about world view and america's place in the world, and i think that those opposed to hagel are trying to get a bandwagoning effect happening. i've talked to senator shumer and others who don't see that happening. i have talked privately to a couple of republican senators who are keeping their powder dry right now, but they're not quite ready to jump in the pro or con camp. my guess is, though, that the white house still thinks they're on solid ground and getting him confirmed. >> let me ask you about this. is israel's strike into syria yesterday, a lot of mystery over what they were after. it's reported that they were after some russian weapons that were advanced weapons that were heading to hezbollah and lebanon. what is your basic information? >> i think israel has legitimate security concerns that when there is the tumult you see and you already have seen syria could be part of assad's strategy to run things over the borders that, when you begin to see materials move, that could move from syria into lebanon and potentially into hezbollah's control, whether they're

chemical or even well targeted rockets, various things, i think israel many consultation with the russians and the americans, had decide thad something was moving. you and i don't know what the content was. i was impressed with israel's willingness to consult with russians and the americans in this before they took their strike, so i believe that they have had a sense that something very nasty was being moved. >> is this a proxy against iran, and is this any kind of signal also since the weapons were possibly headed to hezbollah at least according to a lot of sources. is this also letting iran know, you know, that -- >> of course. >> that we are gunned and ready. >> i don't think it was a reckless move by israel, and there are a lot of people who will disagree with my assessment of that, but i think there are a lot of potential consequences for israel that this was a potentially high risk move i think by what they did. they were demonstrating their resolve to make sure that their security is maintained. i don't think that they want to be in the middle of the syrian conflict, and they have showed real strategic restrapt up until this point. this is not a reckless move. everything about syria is about

iran. and about a kind of larger geostrategic stand-off. syria is hard to even consider as a country right now because have you so many different die mentions in the civil wash, you and you have a geostrategic stand offbetween russia and china that have been voting against the united states, that have military capacity in the region, and iran is the biggest patron of syria. it is hard to talk about syria in a serious way without looking at the broad gee joe strategic players. >> should we read anything into this about the re-elected benjamin netanyahu's willingness to take military action against iran? >> i think netanyahu is showing himself, and he will show himself to be always right there on israel security. i think we're going it see him dial down some of the rhetoric and the posturing and the bluster that we are used to from netanyahu, and if you see and act like this without the bluster, i think that's what's interesting. you don't see anybody beating their chest after this strike. just as if after the strike on

syria's nuclear facilities that the north koreans were helping with. very little comment. he is taking action and letting action speak louder than words, which is not the net new we're used to seeing. >> thank you very much. steve clemons. watching the hearing with you throughout. up next, senator claire mchaskell just out of today's confirmation hearing. is she going to support chuck hagel? and al gore speaks about the future, his new book, and the controversy surrounding his multimillion-dollar al jazeera deal. my interview with the former vice president. ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness,

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>> you stand by that -- those comments, senator hagel? >> well, senator, i stand by them because i made them, and -- >> you stand by -- were you right? were you correct in your

assessment? >> well, i would defer to the judgment of history to sort that out. >> i think the committee deserves your judgment as to whether you were right or wrong about the surge? >> i'll explain why i made those comments, and -- >> i want to fn you are right or wrong. that's a direct question. i expect a direct answer. >> chuck hagel in a tough moment with john mccain, defending himself about comments he made about the surge in iraq. will his answers be enough to overcome his critics. claire mchaskell is one of those questioning chuck hagel this morning, and she joins me now. thank you for joining us during a break. thanks for leaving the hearing room. senator, how is your -- what is your perspective as to how it went today? >> i think hagel is much more comfortable asking questions than answering them. that's one bad habit i think you get into when you have been in the senate is that you can dish it out, but sometimes it's a little more difficult to take it. i am reassured by some very

specific questions i asked that he does believe that all options are on the table with iran, that he does believe that iran is a sanctioning terrorist organization. that he does believe that we need to maintain our nuclear capability and cannot unilaterally disarm, so a lot of these things that are being brought up to try to disqualify him, frankly, are just not accurate. i think they've taken some of his votes and some of his comments out of context. >> do you have any concerns that he is not going to be confirmed? >> well, it feels more partisan than typically it does in the armed services committee today. i think that's unfortunate. i think we do our best work, especially in that committee, when we are unified behind the notion that we need to defend and protect our country. i think at the end of the day if people look at the facts and don't hoist hem by a stray comment here or there that he made when he was a senator, but

look at the totally of his record as an enlisted member of the armed service who's searched in combat, and as somebody who has been widely laweded by both republicans and democrats for his expertise and capability in this area. now, clearly john mccain considers the surge personal, and the fact that his dear friend didn't agree with him about the surge clearly bugs him, and he wanted to make that the sum total of his questioning of senator hagel, and i think most members of the committee can look past that at some other issues that are also very important. >> do you think you'll be comfortable enough with his record to vote for him? >> well, one thing i'm not going to do is say how i'm going to vote until the confirmation hearings are over, until i've had a hands to look at his answers that he is going to make on the record. i want to make sure that this is someone who will have a strong voice and can give good advice and that understands the priorities, especially some of mine, as it relates to auditing

the pentagon and making sure that we stop some of the wasteful contracting that we have engaged in in iraq and afghanistan. >> i wanted to also ask you about immigration. have you decided whether you can support the approach outlined by the senators that negotiated the bipartisan proposal the other day? >> well, i do think we've made progress since 2007. we are deporting record numbers of emgrants and the majority of those are prioritized because of criminal activity. we haven't stepped up enforcement against employers who knowingly violate the late, is and those are two priorities of mine. we've strengthened the border. we've doubled the amount of border protection, and i think it's time to look at whether or not we can ask people to pay a price for breaking the law and get at the bask the line, and i will take a look at the details making sure that no one is rewarded for breaking the law, but rather, there is a penalty involved. >> senator mchaskell, again,

thank you for coming out of the hearings, for giving us a flavor of what is going on. it was a really very kind thing of you to do today. >> thank you. and hillary clinton held one of her final events at the state department today announcing new public-private partnership, including support for women a entrepreneurs, clean energy, and after nearly four decades of public service as former first lady, senator from new york, and former presidential candidate, the one thread through all of clinton's work is women's rights. it seems so radical to the rest of the world when she first spoke out as first lady in beijing in 1995. >> if there is one message that echos forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all. all business!

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>> chicago has become ground zero in the fight of big city mares against gun violence from the staggering murder rate. largely by guns brought in from other states. in an interview with jose diaz bullard president obama spoke about the gun violence in his hometown. >> the problem is that huge portion of those guns come in from outside of chicago. if you are just creating a bunch of pockets of gun laws without having sort of a unified integrated system, for example, of background checks, then it's going to be a lot hearteder for an individual community, a single community, to protect itself from this kind of gun violence. >> this week as john yang reported, a young girl who had

just performed with her high school drill team at the president's inaugural last week became one of the latest victims of gun violence. family and friends mourn 15-year-old hadia pendleton yesterday after she was killed in crossfire while standing at a bus stop less than a mile from the president's chicago home. >> we got another good one that's gone. >> she was shot once in the back as she huddled with a group of teens under a canopy escaping the rain. >> she was with her crowd, the kids doing the right things, the kids with promising futures, that's trying to become somebody special. >> chicago is shocked. >> i spent some time last night with the pendletons and the family, and any young person in our city suspect gunned down without reason, their death makes an impression on all of us. it demands action from all of under the circumstances. as we grieve for adea, we need to work today to protect our greatest resource, the children of the city of chicago.

>> and today also hillary clinton is taking her leave tomorrow from the state department, and we look back at some of her historic trips. this one to myanmar, or burma, in december of 2011 where they finally met with democracy leader and nobel lawyer yacht aung san su kyi. >> democracy has been the goal from the very beginning, and yet, we know that it has been a long, very difficult path that has been followed. we do see openings today. all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

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nicaraguan parents -- former secretary solis join me now just out of office, making the transition, heading back to los angeles. we'll talk about that what & what lies ahead. >> you were with the president when he we want to nevada this week, spoke on immigration. there does seem to be despite all the obstacles a sense of possibility now that we have a bipartisan coalition in the senate. what is your percent peck having been with the president on air force one. >> i think that there's obviously this grand movement now and this collaboration on a bipartisan level, to that helps to set the environment, i think, but there's still a lot of work to do. the president admits that as we get closer to a resolution or an actual law, that it's going to be tougher. there will be a lot of sack feeses made there. we still need the public to be engaged, and that's why he went out directly to las vegas where the support was overwhelming for him, for many progressives who were thinking about immigration reform, and i think it was a good way of telling the latino community and all the other

immigrant groups that right now are faced with problems and immigration because it's a broken system, that, hey, we're going to get this done. we're going to get it done if n a timely fashion. >> we see marco rubio joining these senators, but others have -- ted cruz, rush limbaugh and others have taken strong positions against the proposals. how long is the president going to give the senate and the house to try to work this out before he will come forth with his own proposals? sfwli think he said he is looking anywhere from maybe four to five months and he has to work its way through the house, and he isotology see what's going to be put forward. there are goals now as kind of concepts that the senate has come together on, but the house seems to be lagging a bit. he will i'm sure watch how that kind of develops, and if it doesn't go quickly or in a way that he thinks it should, then he is prepared to present his own piece of legislation chshgs i think is good because he really does have a mandate here, and this is one of his big priorities for this term.

>> one of the beg issues as you vu have been in charge of an aspect of the economic policy here in the administration, unemployment, we talk to you every month about that. is the undocumented immigrants. the pushback you're seeing from organized labor movement as well to some of the changes that are being proposed. how do you rationalize this between organized labor and the as peerations of those that are undocumented and you believe strongly need a path to citizenship? what do you tell labor unions where their members are saying that these people are going to take jobs away from you? >> we actually have a lot of education to do because by and large many of those unions in different places, and i'll point to california, large increases have been due to folks from immigrant communities who have now become members of the union movement and they've helped to resurge and expand their region. it's not just in los angeles, but it's in other parts of the country as well. i think it's give and take, but

certainly the notion that these people, undocumented, take away their jobs, i think the facts don't bear out. very much in terms of increasing our economic growth and capacity. if we can bring those 12 million or 11 million out of the shadows, that is over $1 trillion that's going to be put into our economy over ten years. that's going help to provide for education, for social security, for all the things that we worry about right now. who is the work force? where is the work force? there's a work force right here that we can help engage, put them on a pathway to legalized, earned immigration status that they'll have to earn. they'll have to pay back, you know, penalties, taxes, learn english, get in the back of the line and work their way through it, and i think that the public overwhelmingly supports that notion. >> do you have any concerns about the way the obama team inside the white house, the cabinet is shaping up so far in the top positions we've seen white men. we've seen a lack of diversity, critics say. there is that iconic picture,

we're told, valerie jarrett is separate there behind dan pfiffer, but not really visible. she is a powerful voice. there's no denying that. the most powerful voice probably in the white house. what about lisa jackson that's left, vpa. you're leaving labor. when are we going to see more women? >> i think that you are going to see more women and more diversity, you will see that coming about. i know that i have been in discussions and people have told me that there is a strong commitment to make sure that latinos, hispanics are represented in the cabinet post as well as women, so i think right now we're a little bit too quick to judge, and right now is a time for all those discussions to happen. i feel very good about that. i think the president is very committed. i mean, he placed me as a first hispanic latina in a cabinet position in the history of our u.s. government, so there's more opportunity for us, and i see him very much at ease and confident about what he wants to

do in this last term. >> thanks very much. safe travels to you. i know you're heading back to the coast and politics in your future. some offices you're eyeing. we look forward to hearing from you. >> thank you so much. >> many thanks. >> coming up, former vice president al gore. how does he answer questions about his deal with al jazeera own bid the persian gulf oil and gas producing country of qatar. my interview next on andrea mitchell reports. from capital one, thor gets great rewards for his small business! your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! ahh, the new fabrics. put it on my spark card. ow. [ garth ] why settle for less? the spiked heels are working. wait! [ garth ] great businesses deserve great rewards. [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? [ cheers and applause ]

>> al gore has a new book "the future." it's a new look at the global trends shaping our climate and our economy. i sat down with fwor gore yesterday to talk about his predictions and his controversial recent business deal with al jazeera. >> in your book you write the good news is we do have the capacity to again to solving the climate crisis if we awaken to the reality of our circumstances and decide that saving the future of human civilization is

a priority. do we still have time? >> yes. some of the changes will continue to unfold for a long time, but the worst of it can still be avoided, but we do need to act quickly. we're putting an extra 90 million tons of heat-trapping pollution into the atmosphere every day as if it's an open sewer, and that's why we're getting these incredible downpours and flooding events. superstorm sandy was only one of the climate related disasters last year here. we had $110 billion worth of climate disasters last we're. >> how do we deal with these profound changes that we're already experiencing, and if we even took on this challenge here in the united states, some would argue, well, what about china? what about the rest of the world? they're all continuing their policies, so what difference does it make? >> yeah, china's emissions became larnler than those of the

u.s. just two or three years ago. now this year they're 160% of the u.s. emissions, and within two or three years from now they'll be double the u.s. emissions. the good news is that people are connecting the dots all over the world. china, for example, is doing far more than we are to develop renewable manager, to build smart grids and fast trains and new more efficient energy systems. china has now implemented a cap and trade system in two cities and five provinces, and they've announced that it's a pilot for a nationwide cap and trade system within two years. we're now seeing 17 other countries moving rapidly toward carbon taxes and cap and trade. >> but not the united states? >> not yet. >> are you disappointed? president obama campaigned on it in 2008. you showed up with him in june

of 2008. then again visited him in 2009. we heard nothing. now, you argue correctly that not a single reporter asked a question about climate change in the re-election campaign, but the president didn't do it either until the inaugural address. why should we think that now he is going to make a real commitment when he didn't when the economy went down, he made the calculation that it was politically just too hard. >> i think it's very significant that he put the climate crisis pront and center in his maug all address. already times when you can point out the discrepancy between words and actioned, but having the premier issue, the one about which you spoke the most, in his inaugural address, i hi that is a form of commitment that has consequences. he will have to follow-up on this sfwloosh what do you want the president to do to follow-up on the commitment in the inaugural?

>> i think that he has to speak about it over and over again and lead a national conversation and work with the congress to pass legislation that will directly or indirectly put a price on carbon. i also would like to see him use his presidential authority in the e.p.a. to regulate emissions of global warming pollution from coal plants. he has already done it for new coal mants. it should be done for old plants as well. >> i want to ask you about al jazeera and the sale of current tv because it's controversial. people don't manned understand how you as a prophet on chimt change could take reportedly $100 million from a network that is basically owned by qatar, by a country that is an oil producer? it would be like taking the money from exxonmobil if exxonmobil owned al jazeera.

>> well, i think it's important to focus on al jazeera itself. i completely understand the criticism and the point of view that you're reporting, but the fact is that al jazeera stands all around the world as a highly respected international muse-gathering organization, and its climate reporting has been outstanding. far better than what's available now. i hi that its addition to the u.s. media landscape is going to be a big net positive. >> but regardless of al jazeera's virtues or any other other aspect of what al jazeera does, isn't there something inherently hypocritical about taking money and a lot of money from an oil producer because that's basically what qatar is and qatar owns al jazeera? >> well, more gas than oil, but the point you are making is one

that i understand very clearly. i do disagree with it. we can talk about qatar. it's one of our strongest allies in the arab world. we have a military base will. we very robust intelligence cooperation. it has been described by secretary clinton as part of the solution. not part of the problem. >> looking back at 2000, i was re-reading your concession speech. how -- how difficult was that? you knew you had won the popular vote. you had to disagree profoundly with the supreme court decision. what motivated you to be frankly as gracious as you were? were you thinking about the poisono ouous atmosphere and wod about the future of the country? what went into the difficult decision to write that speech? >> well, the short answer is

that our nation is built on the bedrock of rule of law, and upon investigation, that there is no intermediary step between a final supreme court decision and violent revolution. so, what i did was maybe best summarized by winston churchill in the famous description of americans. they generally do the right thing after first exhausting every available alternative. >> how difficult was it afterwards, just coming to terms with that? >> well, i've always been an optimist by nature. and i just felt let's move on. and -- and in to the future. and i've enjoyed my life since the time when i was running for office. and i found other ways to serve. >> indeed, he has.

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which political story will make headlines in the next hours? chris cillizza is back with us. the hague el confirmation is by no means a done deal. >> no, look, andrea. he has not done as well as we thought. the comments of iran, israel,

homo sexuality litigated out publicly for the last few weeks and known sort of what's coming but i do think if you look at the exchange of senator graham from south carolina, the exchange with senator mccain, certainly, those are going to be the exchanges that are replayed and chuck hagel comes off at least so far hesitant, a little bit unsure of himself. it's important to remember i don't know if it changes the ultimate dynamic of the vote, andrea. i don't know if democrats abandon him as a result of that. unlikely. but not a strong showing. >> it seems he's more used to asking questions than answering them and she's a supporter or a likely supporter. thank you very much, chris. see you tomorrow. >> thank you. >> that does it for us. thanks for being with us today. tomorrow on the show, u.s. ambassador for global women's issues and hillary clinton's former white house chief of staff joining us. my colleague tamron hall has a look at when's next. hi, tamron. >> hey, andrea.

just about 30 minutes ago, in fact, senator graham and former senator chuck hagel went back and forth with graham repeatedly going after the secretary of defense nominee over israel. that's just one of the heated exchanges within the last couple of hours. next, republican senator roger wicker will join me live and grilled hagel earlier and says he will not vote to confirm him. plus, there are reports a secret bipartisan deal of background checks for gun buyers is in the works. we'll tell you which senators are reportedly involved in the dealmaking. anti-gay comments of a san francisco 49er have a lot of people upset. he has not been suspended from the super bowl and some are asking why. it's the "news nation" gut check. ♪ if it wasn't for you

♪ don't know what i'd do ♪ i'd have nothing to prove [ male announcer ] zales is the diamond store. take an extra 10 percent off storewide now through sunday. hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. following big breaking news. the tense back and forth withi the last 30 minutes